The St. Petersburg Times
NO. 57 (1091) July 29, 2005

A man of all times

     At all times one can consider the present? the past and the future, and the man i'd like to write about, releates to all these periods? perceiving each one as his own.
     As journalists, we are very grateful to St. Petersburg, which is so rich in talents that only a few of them are possible to write about. Grigoriy Anatolievich Petrov is one of many dis: inguished Petersburg citizens. He has successfully emerged as a fortunate businessmen, an original historian and an interesting writer. In each of these distinct areas he has reached certain heights. The "Nevsky" law firm on Nevsky Prospekt is one of his ideas brought to life. Grigoriy Petrov both conceived ard created it, and found the appropriate people interested in this project. Now there are about 100 members working at the center. The center deals with business project at every level.
     As a historian, he is interested in the remote and obscure times of ancient Russia history. He tries to gather every smallest reliable fact and get rid of every slight discrepancy. On the basis of collected information he creates his daring theories.
     As a writer, he is the author of the epic work "The Whiff of Death and Love Eternal." There is no need to give a list of all the five novels making up the book. The book can be considered as a mystic fantasy. There are two plotines in the work. The first attempts to predict the results of a "Moscow" way of Russian historical development. The forecast isn't optimistic. There is a bloody revolution prepared by special services and the breakup and decay of Russia eventually occu's. The second plotline is an exercise in alternative history. The author tries to imagine, what would have happened if the Russian state had been created under one of the city powers of north-west Russia and not under Moscow. The imaginary Nevarussian Duchi, which would have been possible under such circumstances, is explicitly described.
     When i think of Grigoriy Petrov, he really seems to be a man of all times. He is a man of the present because he runs his own bussiness successfully. He is the man of the past because he is thoroughly aware of times gone by. He is also the man of the future, because he is a science fiction writer who feels at home in times vet to come.

Sergey Karabincev